League of Arab States
General Secretariat
Social Affairs sector
Culture and Dialogue of Civilizations Department
Unified Arab Strategy for Dialogue of Civilizations
Section I: Introduction
1- In 2005 the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, has
adopted the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, called by Spain and Turkey, with the
aim of promoting understanding between different cultures and reduce the gap
between different people, as well as taking action to combat the phenomena of
intolerance and extremism through the dissemination of the principles of peaceful
coexistence and acceptance of others.
2- The Alliance of Civilizations, as political initiative built on the basis of the report of
the High Level Group and its recommendations issued in November 2006, supports
the Group of Friends joined by 138 member states and international and regional
organizations, including the League of Arab States and the Arab Organization for
Education, Science and Culture (ALECSO). The Alliance also is based on the States
contact points to build a wide network of partnerships with institutions and civil
society organizations, the private sector and educational institutions, academic and
religious bodies.
3- Alliance of Civilizations develops and supports projects related to the four main
areas: youth issues, media, education and migration. In order to achieve a number
of objectives, notably: to promote cultural diversity and to establish mutual respect
among peoples, regardless of cultural, religious or nationalist differences and to
create a suitable environment to achieve the concept of citizenship as a system of
ad valorem and human rights, beyond the culture of discrimination based on religion,
race or sex, and as a behavior triumph of the values of civilization. This will
contribute to the creation of a suitable environment to achieve good governance and
sustainable human development.
4- The Alliance goals achievement is based on two main instruments,: national plans ,
and regional strategic dialogue and cooperation between cultures. To this end, the
Alliance urges Member States of the Group of Friends to develop national plans, as
well as to develop regional strategies complementary to achieve the humanitarian
objectives of the global alliance.
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Section II: Principles and Areas of the Unified Arab Strategy
5- The Arab group includes States that their peoples have bonds and relationships
rooted deep in the joint history and enjoy the privacy of the common cultural and
civilization, also owns a tremendous asset of human resources and material wealth.
However, it is facing some tough and sensitive challenges in the current
circumstances, which requires the formulation of a unified Arab Strategy for the
dialogue of civilizations.
6- The Unified Arab Strategy comes in line with the principles and objectives of the UN
Alliance of Civilizations, expressed by the report of the High Level Group for the
Alliance of Civilizations and operational plans. The Strategy also seeks to make
these principles and goals relevant to the privacy of culture and civilization of the
countries of the Arab Group and the nature of the challenges they face.
7- In this context, The Unified Arab Strategy takes the Arab summit resolutions and
statements, as a reference, as well as the decisions of the Arab Ministerial Councils,
and the related items included in the Arab Charter on Human Rights.
8- The main principles and areas of the Unified Arab Strategy are as follows:
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Reaffirm the right of self-determination for all peoples living under foreign
occupation, especially the Palestinian people.
Clear distinction between the right to legitimate national resistance and terrorism
in all its forms.
Combating the phenomena of extremism, intolerance, racial discrimination,
terrorism and the resulting acts of violence reported, search the causes of these
phenomena and provide effective solutions to address them.
Combat the phenomenon of terrorism in all its forms.
Promotion and respect human rights on the basis of international charters and
relevant conventions.
Emphasis on the protection of holy sites and religious symbols of distortion and
abuse.
Emphasis on freedom of speech, thought and expression.
Preservation of Arab cultural heritage and civilization, and cooperation in order to
protect it as a common heritage of humanity. And to emphasize the importance
of maintaining the city of Jerusalem as the cradle of monotheistic religions and
holy places in Palestine.
To protect the rights of migrants, in particular the recognition of their culture,
national identity and religious, in order for them to contribute to the enrichment
process of the dialogue of civilizations through the establishment of productive
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relationships between the indigenous cultures of migrants and the cultures of the
migrants receiving countries
Respond to the aspirations of young people and provide them with opportunities
for their active participation in building their communities in all fields to mimic
more leadership roles and make positive changes in their communities.
Strengthening the role of women and enable them to exercise all their rights
guaranteed by international conventions.
Section III : The Main Objectives of the Unified Arab Strategy:
9- On the basis of the previous principles, the strategy aims to focus on dialogue and
cooperation between cultures to achieve the following key objectives:
 To achieve understanding between different civilizations and not to leave the
opportunity for the forces of isolationism in every civilization to tarnish the image
of the other.
 To resolve the outstanding political issues in a just solution, that would contribute
to avoid a clash of civilizations, especially the Palestinian issue.
 To confront all attempts to discredit and contempt of religion and combat hatred,
intolerance, extremism and hatred of Islam , and the accompanying societal
exclusion and racism towards the other.
 To formulate programs and action plans for the development of the sectors of
education, culture and science.
 o establish a framework for productive relationships between indigenous cultures
and the cultures of migrants receiving countries based on mutual respect and
acceptance of differences and to review the old concepts and ready perceptions
on immigration and immigrants or other reasons for spacing and differences
The Strategy Methodology:
 This strategy shares with some other regional strategies in the following areas:
A- reducing the gaps
B- building bridges of communication
C- creating a common spaces
The Unified Arab Strategy as a regional strategy did not come as a substitute for
national efforts , but complementary, which aims to achieve coordination between these
efforts and so as to ensure optimal utilization of economic resources and human
resources to achieve the common goals of the Arab countries.
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